ART REVIEW by Alec Clayton for OLY ARTS Bill Collins and Gail Ramsey Wharton are the perfect pairing for a Halloween show. The imagery in Wharton’s collages is bizarre and highly inventive, and Collins’s recent paintings of houses and cars are downright spooky. Plus, the weirdness in both is done with tongue firmly planted in …
By Editor Wordsmiths was filmed with independent writers in mind over the period of three episodes. Each interview focuses on a different stage of a manuscript’s journey, using literary organizations and businesses in the South Sound as an example. The series was created by Jonah Barrett, marketing director at Olympia Film Society and OLY ARTS …
By Ellis Boran Okko’s Inn is about a young Japanese girl who becomes a junior innkeeper with help from three ghosts that represent relations of her friends and family. The characters are lovable and memorable, and the narrative is easy to follow. The animation gets an “A+” because of its amazing detail when it comes …
By CHRISTINA BUTCHER It’s time to talk about intersectionality, race equity and empowering women in Olympia. Many hold conversations about those issues among friends, colleagues and family but may not have found ways to turn those words into action. Many struggle with how best to implement meaningful and equitable change in their daily lives. Luckily, …
ART REVIEW by Alec Clayton for OLY ARTS The exhibition now showing in the gallery at South Puget Sound Community College is amazingly lush and gorgeous. Called “What Lies Beneath,” the show features photographs by Seattle artist Melinda Hurst Frye and sculpture by Olympia-based Cyrra Robinson. The works from each — while more realistic than …
By Adam McKinney As autumn rolls along in Washington, the days getting shorter, the air taking on that familiar bite, more folks will be choosing to stay indoors and curl up with a good book. While readers can surely find many good selections on The New York Times Best Seller List, the question bares: why …
By Alec Clayton The fifth annual Olympia Zine Fest comes to town this month. The three-day event celebrating DYI publishing takes place in multiple venues in downtown Olympia. This year’s festival brings to town special guests Hope Amico and Artnoose. Both zinemakers have long histories of incorporating the art of letterpress into their zines. They …
THEATER REVIEW by Alec Clayton for OLY ARTS The Women by Clare Boothe Luce, now playing at Harlequin Productions, is a beautifully staged, lavish comedy or errors satirizing 1930s upper crust Manhattan socialites. The piece opened on Broadway in 1936 and is best known for the 1939 film starring Norma Shearer, Joan Crawford and Rosalind …
By Molly Gilmore This season, The Washington Center for the Performing Arts has the blues — and the world music, and the dance, and the touring musicals, and the comedy, and so on. “We’re continuing to provide something for everyone,” said Jill Barnes, the center’s executive director. “I say that every year, and I feel …
By MOLLY WALSH Emerald City Music, established in 2016, features over two dozen rising and established talents each season. In its upcoming fourth season, performances will explore the nature of the chamber music genre, centering around one question: What is classical music? Utilizing visual elements and collaborations with outside organizations, this season features a diverse …